A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.

Storyline

True-crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves himself and his family into a house where a horrific crime took place earlier, but his family doesn't know. He begins researching the crime so that he can write a new book about it to help his flailing career. He uses some "snuff" film footage he finds in the house to help him in his research, but he soon finds more than he bargained for. There is a figure in each of the films but who or what is it? As a result, his family start to suffer (as does he) and things take a turn for the worst. Will they survive?Written by
Michael Hallows Eve

Goofs

(at around 29 mins) Ellison states in the movie that 8mm film was invented in 1966 by Kodak Inc. but this is incorrect. 8mm film was invented in 1932 for home movies. Super-8 film (the film type actually used to film the murders in the movie, not 8mm contrary to Ellison's statements), was invented and sold for home use in 1965, a year before 1966. There was no type of film invented in 1966. See more »

User Reviews

I saw this last night at the theatre. It's the scariest, most tense horror film I have seen on the big screen since I saw Candyman 20 years ago and it's probably the scariest film I have seen since I saw The Ring, on DVD, about 10 years ago.

Sinister's clever use of sound and its creepy music score, a-la Candyman, is its biggest asset. I say an Oscar is deserved for Christopher Young who has outdone himself with sublime arrangements which bring depth and real terror alongside the visuals.

By instilling fear from the outset and implying a dreadful fate to the protagonist (which the viewer is hoping can be avoided but ultimately knows is lurking at the end), Sinister takes its influence from The Ring and keeps the tension building throughout the movie. It becomes almost unbearable in places! Whilst it doesn't really avoid the standard horror clichés of the last decade, Sinister manages to retain just enough credibility to keep the fear simmering in the audience.

The film is not without its flaws though. You might find yourself shaking your head on the odd occasion and the story, whilst decent and played out with good tempo, treads the fine line between supernatural and reality and, in my opinion, gets it slightly wrong but it's not really enough to spoil the result.

My adrenaline levels, after watching this, kept me from sleeping for another 3 hours, so be warned. It's been a while since I heard grown men scream in the cinema ...

17 of 28 people found this review helpful.
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